Samurai jack- Tales of the companion
by Trogmorten
Summary: Throughout his adventures and his quest for revenge Jack travels with a companion, these are her own stories, as they travel together, each with his own personal vendetta. A story of building trust, and a great search for something they both may never find in a land rotting away by the polluting touch of Aku, the shapeshifting master of evil. rating may go up


***Chapter one***

*****The first fight*****

* * *

This day, like every day, starts with my routine, as boring and idle as it feels, I know that without my routine I would have been dead years ago. So the regular routine it was. I wake up as the sun crawls up the polluted sky, red and bleeding as they were, but the sky I remember was so far away from me, in a home that was no longer a home.

I crush the powders in the small porcelain bowl I always crush them in, I add some water and watch it all as it fizzes, it smells awful, but the smell is not about to be the issue in this charade. I go downstairs with the bowl, skipping over the step that I know that squeaks. There are guards outside and I was never supposed to be here, but the routine holds.

In the basement there is a dripping pipe, nobody knows I have water here, but then again, nobody knows I am here, and I make sure it stays that way. One wrong sound, one betrayal, one rat is all it took, and Aku would know I am here. And then there will be no routine.

I'd be dead.

I comb the powder through my hair and feel as it stings my scalp, it hurts, but I bite my lips. As I wait for the powder to work I scan my gear, oiling it, though I dislike using knives, they were too slow, better have a wide range beam gun, like the city boys have, but I ain't no pampered city boy and I don't have a WRB gun, and probably won't have one any time soon.

Soon enough I wash my head, being careful no water gets in my eyes, you can't even drink this disgusting liquid without disinfecting it first. My hair dries fast; the air is starting to get hot and dry as the sun goes up in my broken remains of a city. It is the pale dirty blond I needed it to be. Better blond then dead.

I hear the dogs outside work, but my heart has grown hard with the passing time, I have no pity left to give, even not for myself. I will be moving from this dead place of slaves and crystals. The dogs were getting frustrated, and I thought they knew I was hiding here, they can smell me, smell my powdered head, and if I am extra unlucky they know what it means and rat me out to Aku's minions.

I bind my breasts with the piece of dirtied cloth I have for that particular task. It was better to disguise myself as a boy; less people will try to rape you, a lone traveler out on the great plains of _Ya'Reth_.

I take my belongings and shove them quickly in my loose kitbag; I itch to get out of this place, it brings up memories I'd rather forget.

The city is abandoned, save for the dog slaves who are too scared to look at my direction. No one wants to take responsibility for me. The city crumbles in this retched heat, this whole pace is like one big disease, just waiting for the infection to be scratched, and this whole place will pop like the disgusting wound it was. Any place Aku has landed his touch is like this.

I crawl toward the edge of the city a glint in the sky stops me, a small rocket carrier land in the middle of the digging site, and three small dogs hop out and one large character. That wasn't any dog I have ever seen. I feel my curiosity light up like an old finger lighter, and for once I want to break my routine. So I start sneaking toward them, I bet they can't see me, I am too good at what I do, since surviving is my current job. The air is so thick with the stench of sweat and the metallic tang of blood, I smell a rotting body somewhere in my near vicinity, but I don't really care, I had smelt worse.

The stranger wears a long dress that stops at his ankles; it has a long sash in the front, for easy access- I think- and he keeps it closed with a wide cloth belt. He didn't look too bad; I'd say he looked good if I wasn't so suspicious at the time. He reminded me of one of the men I saw once in that vid, with all the grunts and the shoving, and the sweat, at a simpler time I didn't understand what I saw, I was young, and innocence was still buried deep in my foolish mind, now I just wondered why the dog slaves needed a male whore, and why the hell did he have a sword.

My inner voice was shouting something, and I remembered my mother, telling me something, but it was so long ago, and I was too stubborn to let myself be dragged through memories of a place long dead.

I had no time for the dogs' affaires and the weird white dressed male whore, I needed to start walking toward _Ya'Reth_'s plains or else I'll be caught in the sand storms. I made the nagging feeling in the bottom of my stomach shut the hell up, as I started climbing the jagged rocks separating me and the city from the plains, and I felt the feeling grow stronger.

_Go back._

Why now? Why would I feel this pestering feeling now? Was it the man? (I felt bad calling him only by his occupation; it might not be his choice to live that way) So I sat. I will not get close. That was the first rule of the routine. I unpacked some of my things, it was mostly junk, but other people's trash was a goldmine for me. I sat on my woolen tattered blanket and watched.

The dogs usually looked so beat up, so helpless, but now a sense of hurried activity spread amongst them and at the center of it the men I white. Before I truly realized what was happening the dogs were preparing a revolution. It was a bold action, and they knew it. The man was the center of everything, showing everyone what to do and where to position things, I would have been impressed if I had any emotional connection to the situation. I was well hidden in my little stone alcove, in the minimum distance my routine demanded, I hadn't even realized I was edging up closer to the commotion.

Aku's drones came like a black swarm; they blackened the land, and their screeches deafened my ears. But the thing that cut deepest was the slick swish of a sword. The man, sitting on a horse fought alone, and when the horse fell and bled to death the man kept on fighting, even when he had deep gashes all over his body, when the black stinky oil dripped on him and into his injuries. I was so close now, to the man; my things were up in my alcove. I had to see it up close. I heard his ragged breathes, saw his chest rising and falling as he blundered for air. He was coated with black oil, but I saw his eyes well, like an animal. A predator. He glided through the air with the whisper of death quick behind him.

He was a masterpiece of stubbornness.

The last Beetlebots took a step back, and his whisper cut deep into my heart.

"No. There is no escape"

Terror rose inside of me so quickly and violently I almost fell. I wanted to empty my stomach although I knew nothing would come out, I hadn't eaten in days. I was back up in my alcove so fast I couldn't help but wonder how come he didn't notice me, I wasn't very subtle when I ran.

I didn't look back as I climbed as fast as I could over the sharp stone's blockade. I wanted as much distance put between me and that man as quickly s possible. I bet he would cut up flesh as quickly and efficiently as he cuts metal I bet he wouldn't even see the difference. People with that particular set of skills tended not to bat an eye when they cut down your mother and you little sister. I noticed I was crying only on the other side of the stone wall. I wasn't this scared a long time now and I had no intentions meeting the man again.

It was too bad that at the time, I had no knowledge of the time I was about to share with the man.

It started as I stood safe in a cave I have found deep within the stone, emptying my soft leather boots from send, and cleaning my generally sand filled clothes. The sand storm was raging outside, the wind was shrieking , and I was cursing the day my mother ever laid eyes upon my father.

Filled with nasty bruises, deep cuts and a blooming purple bruise on his left temple (made by me, unfortunately) lay the stranger. What the hell was I thinking? Bringing him to _my_ cave? The storm kicked up a notch, and I was sorry I hadn't left him out to choke and die on that thin dust that now filled every pore in my body. Why did I go and save him? That was such a rude violation of my routine I wanted to cry and kick him. But he was wounded enough, and I don't tend to cry a lot. Crying doesn't bring up the dead back.

I heard him grunt, and I saw his eyelashes flutter when I was in the middle of applying disinfectant to his wounds. He kept his eyes shut, but I saw the muscles in his face stretching the tiniest bit. He was testing his surrounding, and his binding, I was sure. His sword was hidden deeper in the cave, so he might feel it absence from his hip.

They knife flew out of my boot in a speed I was proud of and at his throat the moment he opened his eyes. I was close enough to see his pupils dilate as his gaze focused on me, close enough to see him plan what he will say to me.

"Rule number one: You don't talk, you don't ask, you don't think and you don't breathe unless I say so. Got it?" I saw his brows knit a bit. I took it as a yes.

"Where is my sword?" he asked in a deep voice that sent a tiny thrill through me. It has been ages since I actually talked t someone but myself, and I was getting tired of the sound of my own voice.

"Ehhh!" I made the sound of that annoying buzzer they used in the cities, "Strike number one. Ya' don't talk if I don't say so, ya' don't get the pleasure of shitting unless I give you permission. Nod if you got'it."

He nodded. I hoped he didn't see my palms were sweaty.

"Name, yes?"

He looked confused "What?"

"Don't you understand simple _Ishiie_, for fuck sake?" a headache started forming in the center of my forehead," . ?" I gestured wildly with my hand.

"I understand what you say; it's just your accent. It makes it hard to understand."

"You shittin' me, yes? With that hissy drawl you talk with, I am not understood."

"Everyone calls me Jack" He cut in, but I let it slide.

"Well, Jack, my name is Elian, and if I see you twisting the wrong way I WILL stab your sorry ass neck with this beauty here, yes?" I gestured with my knife, which was brushing his thyroid. He didn't even gulp, instead looked at me steadily. Were those creases on his face doubt? Or amusement?!

"I am not KIDDING, yes? I will not hesitate kill you, I have enough worries on my head, I don't have to babysit you, I could have left you to die at the storm!"

"Though I do not know what 'babysit' is, I thank you for rescuing me from that storm, and I promise you I mean you no harm, and I doubt you could harm anybody but yourself, holding your knife like that."

"Excuse me?!" what the hell was he thinking?

"Here, I'll show you" he said and rose from where he sat, his rope bindings falling down as if it was just a bunch of strings. I took a dozen steps back, my breath caught in my throat, and I held my knife with both hands.

"Don't fucking move, or I swear it won't be me hurt by this knife!"

He looked bemused and put both his hands in front of him, like he was calming a beast, which I probably looked like, sitting down on the hard floor he said "I have no intention of hurting you, please calm down"

"Sh…shut the hell up, yes?" I sounded shaky. That stranger made me break my routine and now I was paying for it.

We just stood like that for a while until he sighed and crossed his legs. His eyes closed and he put his hands in a weird gesture that looked like the old paintings I vaguely remembered from my childhood, in the old ruins I wasn't supposed to play in. His breaths evened, and I thought he went to sleep while sitting. I was wrong of course, because the moment my arm lowered a tiny bit, his eye cracked open, and he would give me that look. As if he was checking his horse had calmed down yet, which obviously added to my bewildered rage.

The storm raged outside, and some dust came in the cave. I put my sand guard up, it hid most of my face, veiled my eyes and kept my body temperature warm enough. It circled around my body like a weird squid, well, it wasn't really sewn for humans, but with a few readjustments I made it was as comfortable as my old sand guard, the one with the blood stains on it.

Hours passed by, and the stranger called jack really did fall asleep in that position. He was still mostly covered in that black oil, which was now full of sand and dust. I started a small fire with my spark stone and some wood I had in my pack.

The storm still bellowed outside, and I looked at Jack while he slept. The wounds were closing quickly before my eyes, as my salve did its work, but still he looked too pale. Maybe from the blood loss, I thought he was feeling cold too, since his dress was torn. I swallowed my fear and inched closer; he _was_ asleep, after all. He looked like a statue of a man who could have been beautiful, had the artist took his time to finish his work. Deep lines made creases in his face, a hard face, of a man who had seen things he wished he didn't.

A face like my own.

* * *

I woke with a start, the strange hum of the storm still swishing in my ears. I felt my muscles groaning with my every move, but the pain was considerably dull now. I looked at my skin with surprise. The girl had cleaned me and dressed my wounds while I slept. I hadn't meant to fall asleep at all, but I learned to accept life as it came.

I wore weird clothes now, a loose white pair of pants and a white shirt that clung to my body, as it was meant to be worn by a smaller person. A pair of soft leather boot clung to my feet and a brown coat with a few blood stains on it, it all seemed to blend well with the walls of the cave, and with the small layer of dust that now coated everything in the cave.

The remains of a small fire she must have started while I slept gave my surrounding a weird scent of smoke and some herbs I didn't recognize. My clothes, or what was left of them were folded neatly next to me, my wooden slippers on them, like an afterthought, but strangest of them all was my sword, laying in front of me on the girls thighs. I hadn't even realized she was there at first, since she too was wearing a brownish coat.

Tendrils of her hair peeked out from the hood of the coat. It had the strangest hue I had ever seen, like a mix of silver and yellow. It reminded me of the friends I had back in Athens, but their hair has never been so pale.

She may have been pretty had she not glared at me like a feral animal caught in a thorny bush. She had slightly tilted eyes, which reminded me of my homeland, high cheekbones, and a nose straight and pretty even if a tiny bit dominant. The coat made her body seem like the vague shape of a squid.

I felt the radiating aura of my sword, and I yearned to have it in my hands again.

"Idecidedicouldtrustyou,yes?." Said the girl, Elian, was her name? She spoke so quickly, and with a tone that made every sentence a question.

"Please, talk slower, I cannot understand a word" My plea seemed to annoy her since she hit my head lightly with the hilt of my sword. "I…Decided…to…trust…you….yes?...so…your….sword…goe s….back…to…you…yes?"

"You don't have to talk so slowly, I am not retarded." Annoyance spiked me, drowned by surprise. I was never annoyed so easily, I took pride in my docility, after all, a great warrior does not seek a fight, that was my father taught me, before he was ripped away from me, and I was ripped away from my land.

I saw hesitation in her eyes, and she took my sword a few inches back, as if she had remembered something she had to ask.

"Are you with Aku?"

* * *

At that moment I wished I had stolen that WRB gun, I wished I had anywhere to run. The scabbard of his sword was off quickly, and I pointed the incredibly sharp tip of his sword at him.

The rage, agony and hatred I saw in his eyes, hit me like the lash of a whip.

He took a deep breath and I saw my arms were shaking badly.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to frighten you, child." He said and started to rise.

"Sit the fuck down." I spat. He gave me that look again, an evaluating look, like he was thinking how quickly he could take this sword out of my hands and into my stomach. My grip tightened, and I let my inner flame burn away all my emotions. It was a trick, a good trick of concentration. Some saw a river the let their worries flow with, some saw a flower, but for me it was always a flame.

"I repeat, are you with Aku? And don't bother to lie because I will now." I lied, but I knew my voice was cold and lacking, so he may buy it.

"He is my greatest enemy, and one day I will be known as his slayer" he said simply. He was cautious now and he looked me straight in the eyes. His sword slipped back in its sheath and was back in his arms with a flick of my wrist.

"You'd have to take a number and stand in line, yes?" I said with a snort.

He saw it was a bad direction of conversation for me and ended the discussion with a very ordinary "I'm starving" Which worked wonderfully for me. I had no more power to hear another sob story, of a family separated, a lover or a brother killed by Aku's drones. I had my own problems to deal with, and this guy looked like he had his own.

But underneath the turmoil of emotion that stormed outside of my safe void I felt my curiosity spike. He intrigued me.

Time passed, I think another day passed by, and we spent it in silence that was broken some times when he inquired about me. Where was I from? What is this place?  
Unfortunately for him questions about me were answered with a brief "Mind your own business" and anything else was answered briefly as well. I took my time to watch him, how he held himself, and how he paced back and forth inside the small cave. He had the grace of a man born with a sword at hand, he was at ease and yet he looked like a coiled spring, ready to lash out at any small interference. He was a man of secrets, but so was I.

The next day after waking I found that the storm was gone, and with it the warrior, Jack.

So it was only natural to tail his track.

yes?

* * *

A\N- I do not own Samurai Jack and I don't gain anything from writing this piece of fiction. Only joy, yes? ;)

This is an idea sitting on the top my head for quite some time now- I will continue it depending on the reviews of the readers (I need to know how to split my time between this fic and my other fic 'OtherLand') every chapter will be based on a chapter out of the cartoon. (this chapter is chapter number three).

Tell me what you think!

It's weird writing from their mind like that so please give me your opinion- criticism will be welcomed (as long as you know how to phrase yourselves like human beings ). Any suggestions and ideas you have- I'd love to hear all about it!

I know it's a slow start but I have most of it planned out.

Please review

-Trogmorten.


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